The Letter (1929)

When her lover (Herbert Marshall) tires of her and takes a Chinese woman (Hoang Thi) as his mistress, a married woman (Jeanne Eagels) shoots him to death. However, she lies to the authorities and claims he attempted to rape her and it was self defense. Based on the play by W. Somerset Maugham (OF HUMAN BONDAGE) and directed by Jean De Limur. The film is nowhere near as good as the 1940 William Wyler version. It doesn't have the layers and ambiguous complexities. Still, as an early pre-code sound film, it isn't compromised in the way the Wyler film was. The Chinese woman is clearly his live in mistress here while in the 1940 version, she's his wife. Eagels' adulterous wife isn't "punished" the way Bette Davis's wife was in the Wyler film. As an early talkie, it's still slightly stilted in its execution. The reason to see the film is Jeanne Eagels' powerful performance. In her last big scene, she pulls all the stops out and punches you in the face. It's very different than Davis's acclaimed performance but in its own way, just as potent. Alas, Eagels died just months after the film was released at age 39 from a drug overdose. She was the first person to receive a posthumous Oscar nomination. Marshall, who plays her lover here, would go on to play the husband in the 1940 film. With O.P. Heggie and Reginald Owen.